This invention relates to the field of photography, and in particulars to methods and apparatus for producing finished photographic prints of images captured by photographers.
With the advent of affordable powerful computing capabilities and the trend toward electronic commerce (also known as xe2x80x9ce-commercexe2x80x9d) made possible by the rapid growth and development of the Internet, new opportunities exist for providing digital solutions to the needs of photographers, both professional and amateur.
Various apparatus and methods for processing photographic prints are known in the prior art. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,512,396 to Hicks; U.S. Pat. No. 5,101,286 to Patton; U.S. Pat. No. 5,043,758 to Nealon; U.S. Pat. No. 4,841,359 to Hawkins; U.S. Pat. No. 4,694,354 to Tanaka et al.
While such known prior art methods and systems provide some limited electronic processing of photographs, there exists a need in the art for a comprehensive digital and interactive system whereby photographic print processing is carried out faster, and more efficiently and accurately.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for producing photographic prints digitally and interactively, whereby professional photographers will be able to sell their services more effectively, to reduce internal studio labor, and increasing cash flow by realizing shorter production times. Photographic laboratories will be able to speed up production and provide a higher quality product to their customers according to the method for processing orders and improved production workflow contemplated by the present invention.
The process of the present invention is based on data collection at various stages during the process, which data is then used to drive the operation of equipment for producing a final image product.
In particular, the present invention provides a method for producing photographic prints, comprising the steps of optically capturing a plurality of images on an image storage medium, creating digital image files from said captured images, viewing on a display images produced by said digital image files, selecting desired ones of said plurality of images for printing as photographic prints, providing retouching information and making corrections to said desired images with respect to at least one of cropping, skewing and rotation parameters, storing said corrections and said desired image information in electronic form as an order file and transmitting said order file to a photographic lab, and using the transmitted order file at the photographic lab to drive image scanning and printing equipment to automatically produce from said digital image files said photographic prints.
According to another aspect of the invention, apparatus is provided to carry out the above method.